Locking device for jewelry



Aug. 9, 1960 E. BENDA LOCKING DEVICE FOR JEWELRY Filed Dec. 27, 1955 United Sttes 2,948,03&

LOCKING DEVICE FOR' JEWELRY Emil Benda, 261 Salzburgerstrasse, Linz, Upper Austria, Austria Filed Dec.- 27-, 1955, Ser. No.- 555,677

Claims priority, application Austria Nov. 12, 1955 2 Claims. (Cl. 24-157 one another.

In the known devices this is attained by means of a bent piece capable of being fastened with a hook, which bent piece, however, must be kept in its locking position by means of difierent securing or locking members being under spring action so that said constructions are much. complicated. Other locking devices of the kind indicated consist, of a locking member provided with a tongue elastically supported therein which is. fastened with a pivot of the other locking member. Both locking members are pressed with their joining surfaces by means of the elastic tongue. There are also looking devices havingan elastic V-shaped tongue which is inserted into a cavity of the other end of the chain and engaged into a recess by means of a projection. In all these known constructions the spring elements are weakened during the use and then an undesired opening of the locking device cannot be avoided, so that precious pieces of jewelry often get lost. It has also been tried to remove this disadvantage by the arrangement of additional guard-chains. The manipulation of such doubleand triple-secured locking devices, is, however, uncomfortable and their application for jewelries is limited for aesthetical reasons. Similar drawbacks show the carabine-like locking devices, in which a tongue guided in an arched pipe is kept in locking position by spring action. The opening and closing of this connection is rendered much difficult by the very little pin of the tongue. In another embodiment of locking devices the use of spring elements is avoided by connecting the ends of the jewelry piece by means of a screw connection. The applicability of such locking devices is, however, limited to a great extent owing to the uncomfortable manipulation and the undesired turning of the jewelry piece.

According to the invention all these disadvantages are avoided by the arrangement of a lever pivotally situated on a particularly fork-shaped supporting part. The support and the pivot are provided with slots which can be brought into alignment. By this simple and inexpensive construction the insertion of the locking member of one end of the jewelry piece, particularly the end of a brooch when closing the locking device and when opening is much facilitated. At the same time an eifective protection against loss of the jewelry piece is secured if by turning the pivot lever the alignment of the slots is interrupted for example to a stop on the supporting part. The latter preferably has pan-like recesses into which the pivot lever engages with noses or the like after the insertion into the supporting part. For this purpose the edge of the inner end of the slot is preferably bent up in an adjacent pan-like recess. It is also possible to bend the inner end of the pivot lever preferably in a radial range to or into the adjacent recess. A

2,948,038 Patented Aug. 9, 15360 particular advantage consists therein that the slot of the supporting part is open towards the base of the supporting part thereby attaining an increase of the security of the locking device. The pivot lever can preferably be formed as a V-shaped clamping spring. A stop can also be provided for said lever in or on the supporting part for the locking position of the pivot lever.

It is already known to produce a locking device by turning two slotted parts. In these constructions, how ever, a slotted sleeve is provided wln'ch cannot be turned without further auxiliary means. Such a construction is not useful for constant closing and opening in locking devices for jewelry.

In the drawing as preferred embodiment of the invention a locking device for a brooch is illustrated.

Fig. 1 is a bottom view, partly in section,

Fig. 2 is a side view of the locking device,

Fig. 3 is a side view of the pivot lever alone.

A sup-porting part 1 consists of a U-shaped, curved sheet metal component and ends 2, of the, legs of the component are enlarged in circular form. Each end 2 is provided with a pan-like recess 3 defining a bearing. A pivot lever 5 is defined as a V-shaped, elastic metal part, and each leg of the lever 5 is provided with a support projection 4, with each projection 4 being received by each recess 3.

Each. leg of. the supporting part 1 is formed with a radial slot 7, and the slot 7 serves for receiving locking element 8 of one end of a jewelry piece and as illustrated,

the same is the pin of a brooch. The other end of the jewelry piece is designated 9, and may be the smooth metal body of a brooch or the like. The lever 5 is provided with a longitudinal slot 10 having rounded ends, as shown in Figure 3. The end of each leg of the lever 5 is bent outwardly, as shown at 12, for forming the support projections 4, and is bent up at the inner end of the slot 10, as indicated at 13. The thus formed projecting parts engage the recesses 3 of the supported part 1, and eifect together with the spring action of the lever 5, safe bearing and guidance of the lever in the supporting part. 1. It will be seen that the slot 10 extends from the center of the bearing of one leg of the part 1 to the center of the bearing of the other leg of such part.

With reference to Figure 2, it will be noted that the slot 7 is directed radially to the center of each pan-like recess 3 and towards base 14 of the supporting part 1.

The locking device is assembled of both individual elements as mentioned above by pressing together the pivot lever 5 with flat pliers and introducing into the supporting part. The lever is placed with its projections into the pan-like recess of the supporting part by means of spring action and forms a pivotal connection with said part. The distance of the pivotal axis of the lever 5 from the base 14 of the part 1 is so chosen that the upper edge (Fig. 2) of the base forms a stop for the lever, in which the slots of the lever and. of the supporting part are brought into alignment (Fig. 2, position 5). In this position the locking element 3 can easily be introduced into the slots 7 and 10. If the locking element 8 is introduced up to the pivotal axis, the element 8 is fixed in the locking device by turning the pivot lever in clock-wise direction to the other stop (Fig. 2, position 5"). The bearing friction, for example the spring action of the V-shaped lever increasing said friction can be so adjusted that an undesired opening of the locking device is safely avoided. By simply turning the lever in counter clock-wise direction (Fig. 2) the locking device is re-opened. By inclining the slot towards the base of the supporting part an additional protection against an undesired detaching of the locking element is attained.

The locking device according to the invention is advantageously produced by stamping a blank for the production of the fork-like supporting part, by pressing two pan-like recesses into the ends of the blank which are preferably enlarged in a circular manner. The blank is bent in a U-shaped form and a slot is produced, for example by milling, which slot being open towards the base of the U-shaped supporting part. For the production'of the pivot lever preferably a blank is stamped from an elastic material provided with a longitudinal slot being closed at both ends. That ends of the slot, particularly being curved are bent up and the blank is bent in U- shaped form. In such a manner the locking device can be produced of simple sheet metal. The recess 12 can also be pressed into the sheet metal what occurs before the production of the U-shaped form as well as the bending up at 13. I

The pivot lever can also be made of simple sheet metal which is pressed against the supporting part by means of a spring, said part being fork-like or just plain or simple. In the latter case the spring can embrace both parts and press together both parts from the outside.

What I claim is:

1. A locking device for jewelry comprising a U-shaped support including legs, each leg having adjacent its free end. a bearing on a side symmetrical to the bearing side of the other leg, and each leg having a slot formed 'therein, with said slots being in alignment and opening through the same lateral edges of the legs and extending radially to the approximate centers of said bearings, a

fork-like resilient member including legs positionable within the support, each leg of the fork-like resilient 4 member having adjacent its free end and on a side symmetrical with respect to the bearing side of the' other leg a bearing yieldably coacting with the corresponding bearing on the support, said member having a slot extending from the center of the bearing of one leg thereof to the center of the other bearing thereof, and an element fitting the ends of the slots in the support and fork-like member and capable of being inserted into such slots when the slots of the fork-like member are in alignment with the slots of the support, and lateral removal of the element from the locking device being prevented when the fork-like member is in any position wherein the slots thereof are out of alignment with the slots of the support, eachof the support bearings being a recess provided-in one of the confronting inner sides of the support legs, each bearing of the fork-like member including a sleeve-like projection received in the recess; and each of the symmetrical sides of the legs of the forklike member having a projection extending radially from the end of the slot and adapted when in alignment with a slot of the support to fit in such slot.

2; A locking device according to claim 1, and in which the fork-like -member is a V-shaped clamping spring.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS .383,188 Munz May 22, 1888 1,174,608 Peters Mar. 7, 1916 1,315,273 Barsantee Sept. 9, 1919 1,335,914 Peyeke Apr. 6, 1920 2,066,969 Fornham Jan. 5, 1937 2,353,581 Morehouse' July 11, 1944 

